I’m honestly so shocked Claire decided to come 2 weeks early like my other kids. I thought for sure I would make it to my induction date of December 5th. I was a lot more comfortable with her, she was measuring a week behind, and the idea of an induction was great. But Claire had other plans…

38 week bump

Monday, November 28th, I went in for my 38 week appointment at 2pm. I was feeling uncomfortable that day with some mild cramp like contractions. I brought Lily with me to the appointment and occupied her in a stroller with snacks and a Leap Pad. J was playing at a friends house and I knew the appointment would be quick. I had gone from an ‘almost 3’ and 70% effaced to a true 3 and 80% effaced. My Dr. will strip your membranes at 38 weeks, so I had her do that to see if it could kick start labor(with both of my other kids it did) and then I was on my way.

When I got home about 3pm I decided to walk around my house, essentially doing laps in my kitchen and family room while updating family on what the dr. said at the appointment. I honestly didn’t think it would do much, but I started to have some pretty painful contractions. I kept walking, cleaning, and playing with the kids until about 5:30 when I was getting more uncomfortable. Josh texted and said it was snowing pretty hard and that he would be awhile until he could get home. I asked him to pick up some fast food because I wasn’t feeling great. He finally got home at 6:30pm, after shoveling part of the driveway so he could get up in his car. As soon as he walked in the door he said, ” don’t go into labor tonight, the roads are awful!” I told him I was in quite a bit of pain, but if I could make it to 8pm the roads would be clear and we could put the kids down for bed.

I lay on the couch and texted my mom. The plan was to have my dad stay over with the kids, and then mom could come to the hospital with us. I stayed on the couch until 8 timing my contractions and they were about 10 minutes apart. I texted my parents who live minutes away and told them to head down. I put Lily down and gave her and J big kisses and then we headed to the hospital. The roads were cleared and we didn’t have any problems. The mountains were gorgeous and everything was freshly covered in snow. It was so peaceful.

We walked into labor and delivery and got checked into Triage and they hooked me up to monitor the baby. I was so emotional and started crying. It hadn’t been that long ago that I was there with Lily and to be honest I was a little nervous. I still remembered SO much haha.I was also nervous they would turn us away and I would look like a wimp.

She checked me and I was at a 5. I was so relieved, we were gonna meet our baby! I called my mother in law and told her and she went and slept at my house so my dad could be at work in the morning. I’m so so grateful for all the people that were there to help us. We’re so lucky!

Unfortunately, the Dr that was on call and the anesthesiologist were in surgery so I couldn’t get my epidural. She got my IV started and then we waited about 45 min(about 9:45pm) and then I got my epidural. The Dr. was still in the OR so she checked me at 10pm and I was a 6 with bulging waters. Once my water breaks I tend to go really fast. The nurse wasn’t allowed to break my water, so we were waiting for the Dr. At about 12am the Dr. came in and broke my water. My contractions instantly started getting more intense. Luckily I could just feel the pressure without all the pain. At 12:15am I called the nurse back in to check me, I felt ready to push. Yep, I was a 10 and baby was ready so they called the Dr in and got everything set up. By 12:29am November 29th, Claire Ann was born. 6lbs 6oz and 18 in long. Her umbilical cord was super short, but there were no problems.

My recovery has been great! With Lily I hemorrhaged and just had a long recovery. This time around I feel SO much better and I’m so grateful for that.

She is now a week old and just such a sweetheart. She wakes every 2 hours at night, sleeps in her bed nicely(unless I fall asleep nursing her, then she sleeps nicely nuzzled up to me:)).

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About Sugar Plum Runner

Welcome to the Sugar Plum Runner! I grew up in WA state, but currently reside in UT with my husband Josh, son Jackson, and 2 daughters Lily and Claire.
I love running, but I have never been so inspired to run, race, and blog about it since 4 years ago after I had Jackson. I grew up playing soccer and cheered in high school. My favorite part of both sports(and yes I consider cheer leading a sport) was the conditioning. I found myself running after practice was over on my own. That's when I realized that running may be the sport I really loved.